*I was invited to The Adventure Is Real with Love Pop Ups London for review purposes. All thoughts and words are my own. If I didn’t love it, I’d let you know.
Do you remember how once upon a time, we were allowed out? How we spent evenings seeing our friends and loved ones? How we could gather together and share something in real life and not only online? I do, vaguely, and the last time I went out I found myself dressed as a wizard and locked in a dark room in deepest, darkest Hackney. Well….. kind of.
I’m not one for role-playing games and prior to going to The Adventure Is Real the only knowledge I really had was the murmurings of friends that play and the scenes on The Big Bang Theory! So to say I was going in blind was a bit of an understatement.
We were met at the door by a becloaked games master and escorted to our chamber and began helping us get into character. As we got dressed (oh yes, there were costumes!) we learnt the basics of our character. A bit about their background. I was Hume The Wizard. A member of the Royal family no less, but not that welcome there, after I set the west wing of the palace on fire during my wizard training.
I’ll have to admit I was a little nervous and a bit unsure at first but I was guided through it and not made to feel silly at all. Although I did learn improv is definitely not my strong suit, I still enjoyed myself and at the end of the three hours was starting to get into the swing of things. So much so that I’m hoping to go back to try our luck at chapter two when all this is over.
During the game we traversed a magical journey to take on the Hunter of Sleep. Would we end up like those before us that had tried and failed to save the haunted souls that suffer nightmares? Using our wit, charm and talents we managed to negotiate meetings with some wary goblins and pass through a boobytrapped hall using teamwork. Not needing to fight until we took on the Hunter right at the end.
Even for a complete newbie like me, The Adventure is Real was a wonderful introduction into the world of RPGs. The addition of immersive theatre, props, music, mood lighting was just incredible. Jason was fantastic at guiding us through the story and I can’t wait to give it a go again soon.
Who know’s, maybe we’ll make a Dungeons and Dragons Player out of me yet!
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